The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1887-09-23

ligent gentleman, but one who is, par
don me. at all times a little eccentric
Come. come, no nonsense. my fair
Queen Belle | said. You purposely
misunderstood me. / refer to your
conductNin thus encouraging two young
men. once dear frisads. tutnow ready
to cut each others throats, simply
because both OF them happen to be
madly in love with a very lovely but
very capricious, coquettish young la.
dy. Choose between them, Belle, and
the soone the better, but don't
encourage both or you will regret
your careless folly. Pardon me,
dear child, l speak only for your
good, believe me. | was your dead
fathers nearest friend. Choose be-
tween them. OF course l added,
p5ayfully, we all can see that your
choice will light upon that golden
haired young Apollo, Capt. Devine.'
"sIlaeed,' she replied, with a flash
in her eyes that gave the lie to her
assumption OF indifference. How
very kind and wise you all are, to be
sure, but suppose l should happen to
choose neither Capt. Devine nor his
friend, cannot a lady receive the lit.
tie courtesies OF society without peo-
pies turning it into g tragic OR desper-
ate love AFFAIR."!
".Alas, Isabel, answered her sad
ly. DO not speak after that fashion
for at heart you are too true; yes,
too noble a woman to thus trifle
with words. You know that both OF
those mon love you, and that it has
broken their lifelong friendship.
Young Devine, indeed. wears his heart
so plainly upon his sleeve that all
can see who will. AS for Harold
"'Yes, as for Harold Charters-well,
what OF hlm?' she said, turning
her proud little head, with its coronet
OF dark braids, aside for an instant.
Was it my fancy or did the dark
fr:nges droop consciously and shyly
over her eyes?
"'What OF him, child2 Why, simply
this; a slight, slight thing to a shallow
coquette, but to a true.hearted wom-
an-everything. He loves you with
all his heart; l am sure OF it. He
would die for you if necessary, to-
morrow l answered.
"'Die, die she repeated, half pet
tishly. oh, they all can tell the sto-
ry very smoothly and well. Who
wants him to die for me? When it
comes to living consistently and I'M
selfishly for a woman's sake-a much
better, kinder thing than dying for
her-see what miserable failures the
majority OF our ardent lovers are.
Doctor, did you ever notice how in
different men become once sur that
they have Won you? Look at the
nonchalance OF even the kindest hus-
band compared to the eager devotion
OF even the most cruelty ll-treated low.
Ell. No. Mems love can well be COM
pared to the reindeer-it thrives best
upon the scanty growth OF o poor
rocky soil, and the moss upon which
most any other creature would thrive
is the food most suitable for it.
"1 am not quite ready to become
patient Griselda. Yet if ever am
ready, and if a man is dying to know
whether ! love him or his rival. why
let his wit search out some way to
discover my feelings toward him, as a
woman's intuition would. l shall
certainly not fall into his arms simply
because my lord holds them out to
me. Please lecture no more, my old
and dear friend. You are a man and
should know that men love the chase,
and that when it's object is tooreadily
won 1t oon loses all its charm to
Them
sit was plain that in the face OF
such worldly wisdom as displayed by
this little philosopher two and twenty
all argument was useless. and so l
said no more, and let matters drift,
uneasy though 1 continued to be.
What could l do or say? How ex.
plain the premonition OF coming
trouble and sorrow which SO persist
emily haunted me in the midst of that
gay company. They would only
Taught at me if ! give utterance to my
fears, or say, Try some OF your own
excellent tonics, doctor. Physician,
heal thyself.
"Isabel's father had long been dead
and her mother had been for years an
and her mother had been for years an
invalid. She also possessed aremark-
ably delicate nervous organization.
and to beg that she should urge her
willful daughter to take q more earn
est II would be worse than Jolly,
since it would probably end in driving
the poor lady into an attack of hys.
terra. Our host, the eldest brother
OF Isabel, was u jolly, matter
of-iact young squire, who was
devoted to fox-hunting and sport OF
all kinds-a man who would not un-
derstand my feelings in the least, and
who very likely would consider my in
reference rather meddlesome and i'm
pertinent should l go to him about
the matter. The two younger sons
were mere schoolboys as yet, But
fate hurries us on, ard while l frettsd
and spent wakefuanights over it mat.
tiers were destined to come to a crisis
much sooner than ever ! had antici-
pated.
1.-THE very next evening after my
talk with our young beauty a little
scene in the drawing.room, of which
| was an interested observer, convinc.
ed me that l had wronged Queen lsa-
bel and that she was acting as she did
from a motive which was certainly
not SO noble as l could wish, yet one
that was very natural to a nature so
sensitive and proud as hers, and
which was excusable, to say the
least, than mere vanity. I felt sure
now that she had really given her
heart wholly to Harold Charters (not
to young Devine, as most OF our
guests believed), and l concluded that
there had been at some former time
something very much like an earnest
love affair between this we'll Unmatched
pair; an affair which had been almost
a drawn game between the two, Twas
certain, too, that Miss Isabel had
been piqued into taking her present
course largely through wounded pride
at Harold's persistent holding back
from an open avowal OF his love, when
his manner caused every one who
knew them to think that it was fully
settled between them.
"Queen Isabel looked very lovely
upon this particular evening as she
talked with the little crowd OF people
around her. She was usually the CEN
ter OF a group.
Capt. Devine watched her every
movement, and with q gleam of pas
sionate jealousy in his blue eyes as
his once warmtriend, Harold Charters.
for a moment epgrossed the beauty's
attention. Some remark was made